MOTHERS DAY

By a cruel irony of fate, on the very day that British Summer Time [Daylight Saving] begins, the battery in Wilson's famous WASTE* MkII self-adjusting clock failed, and he had to not only manually re-set the hands to Summer Time, but also change the battery.

To compound his misery, he had forgotten to send his Mum, Mrs Vermilingua, a Mothers' Day Card, so he tried to telephone her at the zoo.

When the phone was answered, I heard Wilson say, 'Hello? Is that... Mr Barry White? Oh. You sound just like him!'

The phone had been answered, he later told me, by a strange, male anteater who identified himself as Mrs Vermilingua's Significant Other.

This person said that Mrs V was unable to come to the phone as she was giving birth to some more pups at the moment, so Wilson just left a message.

'That was probably the latest Dad!' he remarked, matter-of-factly — 'My Mum, Mrs V, would really go for a voice like that!'
________________

*Winter And Summer Timekeeping Equipment